2532. Go to Brown v. Board Education National Historic Park

Since this is our 5th trip to Arizona, we are running out of things to see along the way in Nebraska and Kansas. I discovered that we could go through Topeka and I could add Topeka to the list of state capitols that I've been to. I could also go to my first NPS in Kansas -- Brown v. Board of Education. So that's what we did.

Brown v. Board of Education is in downtown Topeka. It is the original school building that Linda Brown attended kindergarten in back in 1949. It was the start of desegregation in schools. It is open Tuesday-Saturday 9-5. Parking is across the street. There is no entrance fee. 

You can only visit the first floor of the old school building. Most of it is original but after the Topeka School District closed it, the building was bought by a construction company and when they left they took pretty much everything that wasn't nailed down. Three of the classroom are used for displays and then the kindergarten room is set up like when Linda Brown would have attended.

The displays talked about segregation and other court cases that were vital in this pivotal time in US History. Some of them were interactive but it was just a lot of reading. Yawn. I like to look at things and not read things. I did not find it all the exciting. I don't think hubby did either. It was all very well done and very informative. I just didn't want to read especially on the first day of vacation.

The kindergarten room would have been cool if there wasn't a field trip monopolizing the room. We really couldn't look around too much.

I did find the little bubbler very cool. 

You can also take a Topeka's Civil Rights History Driving Tour found on the NPS app. Due to time constraints and the hubby's lack of fondness for history, we skipped that. It has 14 different stops around Topeka that were important to Civil Rights.

I think anyone passing through the area should stop at Brown v. Board of Education to refresh their Civil Rights History. It is fascinating and the building is cool too. Just be prepared to do a lot of reading. 

1743. Go to De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton

 When I saw that De Soto National Memorial was in Bradenton and the Pirates play in Bradenton, I knew we were swing by De Soto National Monument before the baseball game. 

De Soto National Memorial honors the landing of Conquistador Hernando de Soto and his army of soldiers, craftsmen, and clergy in 1539. The Monument is open 8-5 every day except holidays with the visitor center being open 9-5. It is on the bay and all the way on the edge of Bradenton. 

The Visitor Center has a small museum to learn about De Soto and the Spanish Conquistadors. There is an opportunity to dress up as a Spanish Conquistador. The hubby wouldn't let me put on anything more than a hat. 

Majority of the park is outside. There is a Nature Trail that winds along the shoreline and is about a mile long. There is a shorter trail as well. The first part of the trail is all boardwalk and then it is sand. The hubby vetoed the sand trail so we did not explore much of the short trail. Along the trail are interpretive signs that tell you about what De Soto would have encountered. 

There is the Living History Camp which is open January-April Thursday-Sunday. We were there on Wednesday so it was not open. There were also concerned about Red Tide so they were not sure if they were going to be any interpreters while Red Tide was present.

Red Tide is a harmful algal bloom that affects people with breathing problems. It is supposed to have a horrible smell but we thought it didn't smell any worse than Lake Winnebago in summer. 

You can also do a ranger lead Kayak tour from June-October. That would be cool to do but the hubby wouldn't do it. You can also launch your own kayak and canoes from the beaches.

De Soto Monument is also pet friendly so you will see dogs on trails. 

There is also a small display on the housing that De Soto would have lived in across from the visitor center. 

There is a lot to do at De Soto Memorial and you can chose to do as little or as much as you want. We only saw a portion of the park but I would love to hike the whole trail or even do a kayak tour.

Asylum Revisited Walking Tour

Back in May, I saw that the History Museum was offering a historical walk on the grounds of the old Outagamie County Asylum. It sounded really interesting. Stacy decided to come up and join me on the walk.

The last walk I signed up for was cancelled because of the weather. I was really hoping this wasn't going to be the case since it was calling to be windy with a chance of flurries. It turned a little wind and snow wasn't going to stop the curator but it did keep some people away.

The walk was interesting but I felt it could have been better. I'm not sure if that was due to the weather or not since it was cold and windy -- making it miserable to stand outside in an open field. Because the actual asylum is no longer standing, we mainly walked around the the fields of where the building stood. Nick, our tour guide, would explain about a portion of the asylum that used to be where we stood and occasionally showed us pictures.

The asylum housed the long term mentally ill who had no chance of being "cured" and released back into society. The asylum had an open door policy where the inmates could come and go as they pleased which would not fly in today's society. Although the actual quarters were not very pleasant, most of the inmates had to help around the asylum either working on the county farm or in the kitchen. Some even took care of other inmates especially since at time they had very few paid employees since working conditions weren't very favorable.

After we walked the grounds of the old asylum, we walked down to the Outagamie County Cemetery where several of the inmates of the asylum was buried. Many of the inmates would be buried back in their home towns but if they had no family left, they would be buried in the plot behind the asylum. Since the graves weren't marked, it made it difficult to find where the actual bodies were buried. However, a group of people from the Outagmie County Cemetery Commission (or something like that) with the help of a Lawrence University Professor and his class, they were able to locate the graves and turn a piece of overgrown land into a proper cemetery.

Despite not actually being able to see the asylum, it was still very interesting to hear how an asylum operated. We were told the History Museum at the Castle just started an exhibit on the Outagmie County Asylum and we should go check it out. If I knew about the exhibit beforehand, Stacy and I might have made plans to check out it. Since the exhibit is open for a while, I may go check it out sometime.

There are several other History Walks around Appleton I'd like to do and hopefully they continue them next year. Since they only cost about $7, it is fun way to learn about the area and get my exercise as well.